A friend the U.S. should stand by

Friday, July 25, 2002

If there is a single American ideal, above all others, it is this:
People should live in democracy, liberated to pursue their dreams,
free from the lash of tyrants.

To the degree that we have been faithful to this ideal, in our
international affairs, we have done ourselves proud. We saved Europe
from the Nazis. We blocked the Soviet Union until it collapsed under
its own inefficiency. We kept South Korea from being conquered,
leading to its miracle of advancement, while North Korea descended
into starvation and ruin.

Whenever we have turned our back on this principle, we have felt
shame, whether in failing to assist the Kurds desperate to topple
Saddam Hussein, or the rogues gallery of despots and dictators we at
one time called our friends for some momentary political gain.

Looking ahead, America clearly will be tested again, this time over
Taiwan. Just this week, China demanded the United States stop selling
it arms, and threatened Taiwan over some vague words its president
said concerning independence. Expect more of this. China is on the
rise--its economy is growing fast, its military strengthening. And
ever since China began renewing its ties to the West, in the early
1970s, its top diplomatic goal has been to isolate Taiwan, the island
that broke away during the Communist revolution of 1949 and,
unfettered by the madness that Mao and his ilk inflicted on the
mainland, grew to success and wealth.

Our record on Taiwan is mixed. We supported it for 30 years, while
it was an authoritarian state. Then, ironically, just as democracy
began flourishing there, we dumped Taiwan, at the demand of the
Chinese. But the sell-out was not complete. While the United States
de-recognized Taiwan in 1979, we kept our policy against permitting
its military conquest, pledging to aid Taiwan if it were attacked.
Without American support, Taiwan might today be the Chinese province
that Beijing insists it is, and Taiwan's 23 million people would live
under the heel of the Communists.

In the years to come we will have many opportunities to re-evaluate
that pledge. A nation that dreads losing the life of a single soldier
asks itself: Do we really want to sacrifice to defend this remote
island? That is the wrong question. History tells us that nations grow
in strength and, inevitably, test that strength. The question is: Do
we draw the line and prevent China's seizing of Taiwan, or do we fold
our tents and draw the line somewhere closer to home?

This sounds like the dreaded Domino Theory that led us to Vietnam.
That's the problem with history. It offers conflicting lessons. The
United States fought two inter-Asian conflicts, Vietnam and Korea.
One, a blood-drenched failure. The second, a blood-drenched success.
Which would Taiwan be? Perhaps when it comes to Taiwan, neither
Vietnam nor Korea applies, but the lesson of Munich: Tyranny should be
opposed sooner than later. Willingness to fight can prevent war, while
ducking from conflict can ensure it.

Our military commitment to Taiwan has kept the Chinese on their side
of a narrow band of water for more than 50 years. As the situation
heats up, many considerations would seem to place the United States on
the side of inaction: economics, hatred of war, domestic politics.
Those factors must be trumped by our core value: America supports
democracy and opposes tyranny. We sometimes waver, sometimes fail, and
those failures haunt us. But always we return to our love of freedom,
the bedrock of this nation. Taiwan's future poses a challenge to
America's resolve and ideals, a challenge we must not shirk.